Meazaleas?
by Willowth'Wisp
Summary: In which Starfire discovers a new Earthen disease- on her face-, the male half of the Titans are clueless, and Raven is snarkily sweet.


Starfire prodded uncertainly at her nose, wary of the reflection staring back at her. Her face was...well, not her face anymore. Tiny scales had erupted all over her cheeks and chin, bright red and bumpy and topped in an ugly yellow.

A bang on the door made her jump, and her flailing hand sent a bottle of damp-shoe (or at least, that's what it sounded like when Robin held it up and explained that this was what Earthens used to clean their hairs) clattering to the floor. She squeaked with dismay.

"Whoever's in there," roared an annoyed bass voice, and Starfire screwed up her eyes as the shaking thud of heavy feet on the floorboards told her who it was who railed such a devastating attack against the bathroom door. _Cyborg._ "YOU'VE BEEN IN THERE FOR THIRTY MINUTES AND I GOTTA PEE. IS- BEAST BOY, IS THIS YOU?"

"Um- No, friend, I am not Beast Boy," she squeaked, flattening her palm against the shuddering wood, afraid it would crash inward. "You're going to break the door!"

"Star?"

She gulped slightly, her eyes straying downward to her hand. Alarm skittered up her spine. Bumps had appeared there too; they were pink and soft now, but that was how her face had begun its metamorphosis too. "Yes? I need a few more minutes!"

"What are you doing? I hafta pee!"

"I'm pretty sure she heard you the first time," a dry voice broke in. "Unless you've deafened her with your shouts."

"Raven?" asked Starfire hopefully, for her dark friend would surely fend off Cyborg.

"Yeah, it's me. Starfire, humans don't take thirty minutes in the bathroom. Do aliens?"

"No!" she protested indignantly. "Don't patronize me! I know that I am- that I am taking a bit longer than necessary, but I-"

She glanced at her hands, and then at her face, and swallowed. "I am..."

"Starfire?" asked Cyborg, and she flinched at the concern sliding up against his voice. She did not want to worry her friends, but even less did she want them to become suspicious. She did not want them to see her like this. "Are you alright?"

"Yes!" she replied at once, injecting false confidence and perkiness into her own voice. "I am simply...er...having the period?"

"EW."

"Oh, grow up," Raven snapped at Cyborg. "You drive a car that is literally an extension of your body, Cyborg."

Starfire bit back a giggle, imagining Cyborg reeling away from the door with disgust.

"Starfire?" asked Raven slowly. "I didn't know Tamaraneans had periods. I thought their reproduction was...uh..."

"Yes!" Starfire hastened to say, flailing her hands at the door even though she knew neither Titan would be able to see it. "We do not reproduce in the same way that humans do! But I- Er- We still have episodes and our bodies need to-"

"Aight, I'm out," came Cyborg's voice through the wood, and then the thud of metal boots on the ground as he walked away, grumbling to himself. "I'll just...go relieve myself on a tree or something."

"Lovely, Cyborg," muttered Raven.

Starfire let out a small sigh of relief, dragging her hand through her long red hair.

"Starfire."

She gulped. "Yes, Raven?"

"I know you're lying."

Starfire's wide green eyes got wider. "Wh- What? I would not lie to you unless it was of the utmost importance-!"

"You shouldn't lie to me- any of us- at all," the voice snapped back. "You should tell us you don't want to talk about it, or that it's trivial, not evade us with lies or deflection. Now, answer me, since I know now that it isn't trivial: are you hurt?"

Starfire chewed on her lip and looked at her reflection again. She could just make out the shape of more scales ridging up against her the back of her neck. _It's spreading._

"I- I am not sure," she admitted at last, leaning her head against the door sadly, and flinching as hard surface met hard surface.

There was silence, before Raven's voice came again, steady and professional, "Okay, maybe I should rephrase that. Are you _hurting?_"

Starfire hesitated, watching the growth of scales on her fingers and imagining she could see them turning red and something yellow forcing its way out the tip. But there was no pain. "No. I am not hurting."

"I mean any kind of hurting," she added pointedly. "Physically, mentally, emotionally. Any kind of hurting."

Starfire smiled slightly, shaking her red-ribboned head. "No, my friend, none of those hurts apply to me."

"Okay. Are you upset?"

The girl on the other side of the door shuffled from foot-to-foot. "...yes."

"Why are you upset?"

Raven's voice was not comforting. There was no cushion to her words, but Starfire knew that for Raven to be there, prodding in her hard, pragmatic way, it meant that she cared. And that was comforting all on its own.

"I am...changing," she said, hesitantly. "I do not look the same way I used to."

"Does it seem to be doing anything bad to you? As in, will it stop your powers, or are you losing the use of your legs, or something similar?"

"I do not think so, but I do not know what this is. It is not like my transformation- that was a common process for all Tamaraneans, though I did not know it at the time."

"Could this possibly be another Tamaranean metamorphosis?"

Starfire listed her head, thinking. Certainly, it was possible, but she didn't think so. She had never heard of a _second_ transformation. "I do not think so."

"Hmm."

Starfire nibbled along her lip, all the length of it, and then back again, and gradually, a thought wedged its unwelcome way into her mind. If Raven could see what tiny monstrosities were taking over her face and hands (and now, her neck!), perhaps she could identify it. Perhaps this was an Earthen disease...but she was not Earthen!

Then Starfire recalled a day she'd spent in the library with Robin. It was a place filled with books on all topics, and it was a vast treasury for those like her, who did not know Earth but wished to. She'd found many interesting things that day (like rollercoasters, and toasters, and a manatee), but what floated to the top of her mind now was a book of Earth's history. It spoke of how once upon a time, the planet had been divided such that one half of it didn't even know that the other side had anything other than water on it! But when they went to the new land... They brought diseases with them, and the people already living there had had no immunity.

Were Earthens the Europeans, and she the Native Americans? Had she caught a deadly disease, unknowingly given to her by her friends or from the people she saved? Was she going to _die?_

"Raven," she gasped, the thoughts flying through her head sending her into a panic. Sweat-slicked palms gripped the door handle. "Raven, I'd like you to see me."

For an agonizing moment, there was silence. Starfire was afraid Raven had left, frustrated with how little Starfire wanted to give away. "Raven?"

"Yes, I'm here. If you think it'll help, go ahead."

It was all the encouragement she needed. Starfire wrenched the door open and slammed her eyes shut, trembling slightly.

Again, silence. This one was analytical, she thought, as if she was being scanned from head-to-toe.

"...sorry, what's different?"

"What?" Starfire screeched, opening her eyes and goggling at her. "Look at me! Surely you don't think these things are on me all the time!"

She gaped at Raven, unable to process this.

Raven's dark blue eyebrow ticked high, her olive-dark eyes curious and cautious and judgmental. "Starfire... Point out to me what's wrong."

Taking a deep breath, the alien obeyed. She indicated the bumps on her hands, and then (wincing horribly) at the most prominent ones on her face.

"Aren't they horrible?" she whispered miserably. "Have I caught a- a- a meazaleas?"

Raven stared at her. "A what?"

"A meazaleas!" Starfire waved her arms about frantically, wanting to shake understanding into her, and _fast_. "In ancient days, when Earthens didn't explore their whole planet, they didn't take proper precautions and brought diseases to the others! Meazaleas!"

"Measles?"

"Is that what it is? Yes, that!"

"Raven? Starfire?" asked a new voice, and dread washed like ice down Starfire's stomach. _Not Robin, not Robin, not Robin, no- _

With a squeak of horror of having Robin see her in this state, with bumpy volcanoes bursting all over her face, Starfire spun and sped back into the bathroom. She whipped the door shut so hard it shook in its frame and she winced, smoothing her hands down its sides, afraid of all the abuse this door had been taking.

"Starfire?" asked Robin's voice, sounding unmistakably concerned. "What's wrong? Raven, what's wrong with her?"

"Starfire is going through puberty," stated Raven blandly.

Starfire froze.

Was that the disease then? Not meazales- measles? But...puberty?

"What's puberty's symptoms?" asked Starfire desperately. "Will it kill me?"

"_What?_" asked Robin, and to her astonishment, he started to laugh.

"What? What?" Starfire questioned frantically. Why was Robin laughing? Did he not grasp the seriousness of the situation?

"Starfire," Raven broke in calmly. "Those things on your face? Those are called pimples, and they're harmless. Just don't touch them."

"Is that what this is about?" asked Robin, through helpless guffaws.

Starfire was beginning to feel as though she had very much missed a vital part of this conversation. Helplessness and panic grinded together inside her, spurred on by Robin's giggling. It sounded as though she was in no danger, but she had _thought_ she was, and suddenly she felt like a fool, and if it would not hurt her why did it look so horrible? And why did it spread? And- And how could Robin just _laugh?_

Starfire strung her hands through her pinkish hair and burst into tears.

Like a light switch, the horrible laughter stopped.

"Star?" Robin said, gently, tentatively. "Star? Those things- they won't hurt you. In fact, they'll go away in a few days. It's okay. Everything's okay."

Starfire sobbed, sliding her hands across her scalp to rest against her scaly face, catching a strand of hair in between her fingers.

"Starfire," said Raven, sounding unexpectedly gentle. "Open the door."

"If you want," Robin supplied hastily.

Obediently, blindly, Starfire fumbled for the door and pushed it open, and at once, gloved hands tugged on her arms and then she was wrapped up against Robin's red and yellow uniform. She sniffed, aware of all the unladylike fluids she was leaving on his shirt, but not really caring.

A hand pressed between her shoulderblades and through her haze of ebbing stress and flowing relief, Starfire realized the river stone-smooth fingers and cool palm belonged to Raven.

"Sorry I laughed," said Robin ruefully, rubbing her gently, accidentally snagging her hair. She winced at the slight tug, but didn't move, except to curl her fingers into his shirt and bring him closer. "You okay?"

Sniffling slightly, she nodded. The cool hand shifted from her back to the crook of her arm and pulled.

"Come on. I've got some medicine you can use, alright?" said Raven quietly, and Starfire, loathe as she was to leave the circle of Robin's arms and Robin-scented uniform and his cologne, docilely allowed herself to be led away anyway. Robin scratched the back of his spiky black hair, mouth twisted slightly in a look of leftover guilt and confusion.

"It's not even the disease that bothers me so much!" Starfire blurted out as Raven seated her on a stool and pulled out a small container from the kitchen cabinet. "It was that- that- Raven, I keep confusing Earthen things, and then Robin laughed at it-"

She broke off and ducked her head, shoulders curling inward self-consciously.

"Robin's not exactly the most sensitive guy around. We all knew that," said Raven dryly, pressing the container into her hands. "Wash your face and hands, then put that on the bumps."

"Okay," she sighed dismally, looking down at it, and unscrewed the lid with a dull sort of curiosity to find clear, slick gooey stuff inside. "You're sure these are- this illness is temporary?"

"Yes."

"Okay," she sighed again, swiping away her tear tracks. "Okay, thanks."

A sudden thought occurred to her, leaking through all the memories of what had just happened, and she looked up suddenly. "Raven, why did you tell me not to touch them? Will they- they burst or explode or-?"

"No," Raven snorted slightly. "Teenagers would be exploding left and right if that was the case. No, it just makes healing them take longer."

"Oh," murmured Starfire. "How strange so much of Earth still is."

Raven shut the cupboard with a sharp flick of her wrist. "Yeah, well, you get used to it."

Starfire stared down at the goo, waiting for embarrassment to slink away. "Raven- When Robin was laughing at me- Was it because I was funny?"

"No," she returned flatly. "Robin is an idiot."

She frowned. "Robin is not an idiot!"

Raven shrugged, folding her arms and leaning against the counter. Her cloak halved gracefully on either side of her and her belt glittered, dark red, from her waist. "Robin is a brilliant leader and strategist. He wants to protect people and he does it well, including his teammates. He's good at protecting them- and us- from physical threats, but Robin is deaf and blind to emotional struggles."

"He's extremely smart," said Starfire, her defense of the Titan leader coming out a bit shrill. "He would not- Raven, you must not speak ill of him!"

"I'm not," said Raven shortly. "I'm saying he's socially awkward. That's just the truth. There's nothing I'm saying to you now that I wouldn't say to his face."

Starfire's frown didn't recede. Robin's laughter before had hurt, but she was still certain that she must have missed something. It was her who had missed the clue or cue that would make it funny to her also.

When she looked back, Raven's eyes were on her, cutting right through her to see what made her think the way she did and say the things that she spoke. It was a feeling she often got from Raven, and she expected it was a thing her enemies feared. Sometimes she feared it, like now, and Raven was her friend!

"Look, Starfire, we're all socially awkward. Robin for insensitivity. Cyborg for being obnoxious and hardheaded _all the time_. Beast Boy for being..." She huffed and rolled her eyes heavenward, as if unable to sum up Beast Boy in a few words, and that made Starfire smile. "...a jackass. Constantly. I doubt I need tell you all the reasons I'm considered socially awkward. And you..."

Starfire tilted her head curiously. She had not heard Raven speak so openly about something without prompting, and she was extraordinarily interested to hear what her mysterious friend had to say. The fact that it was Raven's evaluation of _her_ made her spine tingle and her hands tighten.

"You're the only one of us whose social awkwardness makes you all the more endearing."

Starfire blinked. "What?"

"You're naive," said Raven simply. "You're innocent. You're ignorant."

"Are you...analyzing me?"

Raven shrugged. "Yes. Force of habit. But do you understand what my point is?"

"That we are all socially awkward."

A hint of a smile, but then Starfire was sure she'd imagined it, because then Raven's thin eyebrows drew together and her forehead creased slightly with annoyance.

"No."

Starfire wilted. "Oh. I'm sorry-"

"My point is," Raven interrupted, "at the end of the day, we're teenagers. Oh sure, we're superheros and we're probably the only line between this city and chaos- ironic, given the state of Titan Tower-, but we're kids. We defeat monsters and we argue over pizza toppings. We wrestle with demons, some of whom are actually our family-" here, Raven grimaced, "-and then straight after we go to a dance and become self-conscious about our clothes, or our partners, or whatever. We coordinate attack tactics precisely and can't coordinate our chores for the life of us.

"We're _all_ growing up. It's not just you who massively wrecks things as you do it."

Starfire shuffled her knees. In the back of her mind, realization woke up. Raven was...attempting to comfort her. Or at least, she thought that this was that. In a sort of strange way that Starfire had to dig for, but it was Raven all the way through, and when Starfire looked back up at her, tear-streaked cheeks were rumpling in a smile.

She dragged Raven into a bone-crushing hug. "Oh thank you, my friend! You have made me feel much better!"

"Oof. Starfire, I can't- feel my arms-"

"Oh!"

She released her at once, scratching the back of her head bashfully. "Sorry. I forget, sometimes, that you are not one of my own people."

For some reason, this made Raven's liquid-like eyes widen slightly, but Starfire couldn't imagine why. Maybe she was still getting over the excess of affection.

She rubbed at her pale arms, muttering, "I can't imagine Tamaran, honestly. So many people just...hugging each other at the drop of the hat."

Starfire giggled. "You and our other friends should come visit my home with me! My wedding did not really...um...leave much time for sightseeing. I think Robin in particular found it to be wearisome."

"We found it difficult that you were getting married?" asked Raven wryly. "To an ooze monster you didn't even know? Imagine that."

Starfire smiled at her.

* * *

**A/N: You know, I realized a little late that this story involves peeing, pimples, and periods. So uh. I hope your stomach has found itself to have strength it didn't know it had. XD Leave a review, please! Seriously, it means so much to hear feedback from readers :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. (but you all knew that)**


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